CHURCH SCHOOLS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1549, 19 September 1912, Page 8

CHURCH SCHOOLS.

— ♦ AND SCHOLARSHIP-HOLDERS, -~ DISCUSSION IN PARLIAMENT. Tn the House of Representatives yesterday nftcrnoon, II r. G. MV Russell (Avon) asked .'the Minister for Education whether, seeing thai the law is indefinite o"n the question /of holders of.Stoto scholar-| ships being allowed lo hold them at secondary schools.not recognised by the Education Act, tlio" Government will bring down this session an amendment of the existing law to enault such scholarships to be. held at the'discretion of parents or guardians at schools approved and iusoected by Slate officers. Ifn added that tor years pai-t StaU> scholarships had been held without objection at Christ's College, Christchurch, and the Collegiate School, Wanganui, but the Education Board at Auckland had recently refused a similar request relating to a scholarship proposed to be held at the Sacred Heart College in that city. The Hon. J. Allen (Minister for Education) replied: The law docs not apjiear to require amendment in order to secure rietinilcncss'. Education Board scholarships mnv bo held at a secondary school or its equivalent, approved by the board; junior national scholarships may be held at o secondary school or its equivalent approved by the board and the Minister. Commenting on this reply Mr. G. W. Russell said that in some cases permission had been given for scholarships lo bo held at sectarian schools and in others refused. The Department had "winked at' the holding of scholarships at the Church of England schools in Christchurch and in Waugnnui. Quite recently the Auckland Education board had refused to allow a boy named O'Connor to hold a scholarship at the Sacred Heart College, Wanganui. In his opinion the right of discrimination should not rest with education boards, but. it should be decided bv the Minister for Education whether n school was qualifiedVo receive scholarshipholders. If this was done the large denominations would be encouraged to establish secondary schools and tho btiuo would be able to effect a considerable economy. ~ Mr. J. H. Bradney (Auckland A\est) endorsed the views expressed by Mr. Russell. . „ ~ Mr. T. H. Dnvcy (Christchurch East) remarked upon the anomaly-that the dis-crimination-made against certain schools had not be&u - applied to the Wanganui Collegiate School and Christ's College m Christchurch. It seemed that the Auckland Education Board had refused to act in the manner required by the law. The Hon. J. Allen (Minister for. Education) replied that the law .was perfectly clear, as he had stated it in his renly. It. was for the Education Board to decide whether any school proposed for its approval was of an/Cquivalent educational standard to that of the public secondary schools. iMr. Russell: The board may still refuse to grant tho request.. The Minister: It does so on the that the education is not equivalent. Regarding the O'Connor case 'Mr. Allen said that the Auckland Board had noti refused the application. It had written to the Department asking for any information that would help it to arrive at a decision regarding the school in question, Tho information ,in the possession of the Department had been sent to the board and tlyit was the present position. He added that he could see no reason, to alter the law. It would be impossible.'to allow- scholarships to be held at any school upon which there was no check and there could be no better check than an Education Board. Mr. Russell remarked that tho question whether a school was of a satisfactory standard should be decided by tho Minister and not by Education Boards which have no control or right of inspection over, secondary education. Mr. Allen agreed that there was some ground for this contention, but ho did not propose to alter tho law at present.